Central European Petroleum reports ‘largest-ever’ discovery offshore Poland

CEP Central European Petroleum has announced what it describes as “Poland’s largest-ever oil and gas discovery” off the Baltic Coast.

The discovery was made at the Wolin East 1 (WE1) well in the Baltic Sea, approximately six kilometers offshore from the city of Świnoujście. CEP Central European Petroleum is the Polish arm of Canadian-founded Central European Petroleum.

In a statement on Monday, the company said that the Wolin East oil discovery is estimated to contain mean recoverable oil, sales gas and natural gas liquids totaling 200 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe). The Wolin license in total is estimated to contain more than 400 mmboe of recoverable hydrocarbon resources.

With these estimates, CEP Central European Petroleum said that the oil and gas resources in Wolin East “constitutes the largest conventional hydrocarbon field yet discovered in Poland, and one of the largest conventional oil discoveries in Europe in the past decade.” 

Poland’s Undersecretary of State and Chief Geologist Prof. Krzysztof Galos said that if this discovery “is ultimately confirmed, the Wolin East deposit could become the largest oil and associated natural gas field discovered in Poland to date.” 

The Aberdeen-based well consultancy Zenith Energy supported the delivery of the well, with services including “a complex rig move, extremely shallow water depth, and challenging drilling conditions in Polish waters.” The jackup rig Noble Resolve conducted the drilling operation.

The “extremely shallow waters” of the Wolin East oil discovery referred to a water depth of just 9.5 meters, or just over 31 feet. Once the drill reached a vertical depth of 2,715 meters, tests confirmed a 62-meter hydrocarbon column and “excellent” reservoir properties for oil and gas production in the Main Dolomite geological formation.

The deposit is “the largest conventional hydrocarbon discovery ever made in Poland and one of the largest conventional oil finds in Europe in the last decade,” said CEP CEO Rolf Skaar. In an interview with the Polish Press Agency, he said the confirmed reserves may rival or even exceed the size of the Barnówko-Mostno-Buszewo (BMB) field, previously considered Poland’s largest.

“BMB holds around 400-500 million barrels of oil, with an estimated recovery of 100 million barrels. We’re talking about a deposit of the same scale – if not larger,” Skaar was quoted as saying.

The discovery could sharply boost output and reduce Poland’s reliance on imports. Poland currently imports 95% of its crude. CEP estimates that the new field could more than double national oil production and increase gas output by 20%.

CEP is working with Noble Corp. on drilling operations and is now seeking both Polish and international partners to help develop the site.